The Godfather Trilogy on Blu-ray Disc

Paramount Makes Us an Offer We Can't Refuse, with the Coppola Restoration

The first two Godfather movies were the films that really put Francis
Ford Coppola on the map. He has made other films, arguably better and worse,
but it will be the Godfathers and Apocalypse Now for which this masterl
director will be known forever.

And with good reason. The
Godfather movies aren't as innovative as Apocalypse Now, but they're great movies nonetheless.

And now Paramount has released the entire Godfather trilogy in one four disc Blu-ray set, and it's a nice one. The movies take up the first three discs, with the fourth reserved for
oodles of interesting extras.

But more about that later.

Despite Part III's general trashing when it came out, it makes an
excellent end piece for the story of Michael Corleone, which is actually what
the trilogy is all about. Despite Marlon Brando's formidable presence in Part
I, and Robert DeNiro's excellent portrayal of the young Godfather in Part II,
it isn't really Don Vito Corleone's story. Rather, it's about the rise and fall
of Michael Corleone (Al Pacino), a reluctant anti-hero who as a young World War
II veteran knows exactly where he's heading in his life - until family ties and
responsibilities change his path irrevocably.

When his father, Don Vito (Brando) is gunned down in a mafia hit, the
only strategy left to the family (and which is suggested by Michael) is for
Mike to gun down Virgil Solozzo (Al Lettieri) the mobster involved and his
corrupt cop escort (Sterling Hayden). This forces Michael to break off his
engagement to Kay Adams (Diane Keaton) and enter the family business, something
he did reluctantly because it was necessary in order to save the family
itself.

He goes to Sicily to hide out while a gang war erupts back home in New
York City. While there he falls in love and marries a local girl - but the
reach of his enemies is long and she is killed in a failed attempt on Michael's
life.

Once back in the USA, the baton of family power is passed to Michael,
the new Don Corleone, and he vows to himself to take the family from the
criminal element to legitimacy.

But first he has a few scores to settle, and this is done with dispatch,
so to speak.

Part II interweaves a new plotline (Michael as Don) and parts of the
original book (the Young Vito Corleone, as played by DeNiro) that didn't make
it into the first movie. The DeNiro sections document Vito's flight from
Sicily, establishment in New York, and his rise to become Don. It's good stuff,
and DeNiro - as usual - plays the part beautifully. Vito sees his rise to
criminal power not only as an opportunity to profit, but an opportunity to see that
justice (as he sees it) is done is his little part of the world.

Meanwhile, Don Michael has moved the family away from New York to a
beautiful compound on Lake Tahoe in Nevada, close to the family's new business
empire of casinos and hotels. A businessman first and mafiosa second, Michael
looks to make deals, resorting to violence only when necessary but unleashing
it mercilessly when it is necessary. His new deals involve holdings in
Cuba, just as the government is overthrown and Castro comes to power and he
escapes from the island by the skin of his teeth.

Old habits die hard, and Michael's business associates still live and
die by the old school of mafia conduct. This leads to attempts on the lives of
Michael's family that force him to take the appropriate retaliation.

A subplot involves a Congressional investigation into organized crime
and Michael is in danger of being put away for perjury if not for some lucky
connections.

Part III picks up about twenty years later. Lake Tahoe has been
abandoned and the Corleone family is back in New York, but running a legitimate and
extremely lucrative enterprise. Michael seems to have made his dream of a
legitimate family come true, though at the cost of his wife and kids and much
else that he loved.

His past continues to dog him, however, and every time it appears he's
made a clean break from his criminal past he gets dragged kicking and screaming
back in. His enterprises involve becoming a huge multinational cartel and the
plot weaves together business and religious intrigue, crime, love of family,
salvation and retribution.

In some ways this is the best of the three installments, though most
critics will probably not agree. But it takes the Godfather saga from that of
being merely the recounting of a famous crime family and turns it into an
American tragedy that's really quite moving.

All the actors in all three parts are terrific, and Pacino is especially
wonderful in all three movies, but he's particularly outstanding in Part III
where he appears as the aging Don, obviously not in the best of health and
carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders.

Part III also ties up a lot of the threads started in the first two
films, and in the end we're left with an image of the futility of everything
for which Don Michael had lived and fought.

But enough about the movies, how about the Blu-ray discs?

Well, for the most part Paramount has done an excellent job of handling
the transition. All three films are presented in 1080p widescreen and all feature Dolby TrueHD audio. And the films have undergone a loving restoration that has turned them into what's easily the best video incarnation of the trilogy yet. Godfather III has merely been "remastered" which, since it's by far the most recent of the three, was undoubtedly all it needed.

The video quality for the most part is very good, dark and atmospheric but very involving, and the sound has been mixed into new 5.1 tracks that are about as good as you can get from source of this age. Don't expect a lot of surround or subwoofer use, in other words.

Then there are the extras. Not only is there an entire disc of goodies,
but each film features a full length running commentary featuring Coppola
himself.

Disc Four features "The Godfather Family, a featurette previously available, as well as much more stuff that was on previous disc releases such as a section on Gordon Willis'
cinematography and various other behind the scenes stuff..

Not enough yet? There's quite a bit of new HD stuff, too, including Emulsional Rescue (a look at the restoration), The Masterpiece that Almost Wasn't (with Coppola, George Lucas, Walter Murch and others), When the Shooting Stopped, The Godfather on the Red Carpet and Four Short Films on The Godfather. And there's more.

You even get a small booklet, though the meat is pretty sparse. Ours was stuck onto the back of the package with some goo, which would wreak havoc on it once put onto the shelf with other discs. Fortunately, the goo comes off easily and you can slide the booklet into the sleeve in which the BD case comes.